PLAINVILLE -- Owing to the presence of An Unlikely Story Bookstore, the center of Plainville is usually a very busy place with people bustling to the store for story hours, browsing and just hanging around in the cafe and second floor lounge area with a cuppa tea or joe, a laptop or a stack of books.

With the arrival of Winter Storm Grayson, though, what many have started to call the heart of the town is closed down for a long winter's nap -- joining other businesses in keeping their doors closed for the duration.

"Stay safe and take a break from shoveling and pick up your favorite book," the store's management encourages patrons on the store Facebook page.

A few miles down the road, the usually busy Wrentham Village Premium Outlet Mall was just as deserted.

The unusual lack of activity quickly settled over the streets of local towns as Grayson gathered strength. The morning saw a few cars on the roads as people made one last milk and bread run, but by late morning, the town centers might as well have been ghost towns.

By afternoon, the only movement on the main street through nearby North Attleborough was swirling snow and a deployment of plows, with one family out shoveling the end of their driveway and a lone walker in the distance, barely visible through the snow.

Very little black top was visible – some plowed, but most of the patches were visible as a results of the scouring action of the wind. Thick, pasty snow crusted everything from the streets to the tiniest branches of the trees, and now and again, braw gusts churned up miniature tornadoes of snow, sending them briefly traveling along the sidewalks.

At St. Mary’s Church of the Immaculate Conception on Park Street in North Attleborough, the tall brick edifice served as a perfect backdrop against which could be seen sheets of horizontal snow, flowing in large form like the furiously fluttering plastic pennants strung along the roofline of the service station across the way.

The Wojes family – Steve, Lisa and Sam – were keeping positive as they scooped shovels full of the sticky, wet snow in an effort to keep ahead of the rapidly piling drifts.

“This will make for some good sledding on the hill down at the church,” said Steve, referring to North Attleborough’s popular sledding spot on Hoppin Hill in front of the First United Methodist Church.

Meanwhile, reports by town officials and police in other local towns have been coming in all morning and afternoon.

“Getting worse out,” one Franklin Police officer tweeted, sharing a snowy photo of a heavy duty cruiser in front of the Annie Sullivan Middle School. “If you have to travel, reduce speed, allow for greater stopping distance. Stay off roads if you can.”

Plainville Police joined other public safety officials in urging people to stay in.

“We can't stress enough that people need to stay off the roads until the storm passes,” the department advised on Facebook just past 2 p.m. “Visibility is down to nothing and the roads are treacherous. If you are on the list of cars off the road, we will get to you as quickly as possible in the conditions. Every business and store other than Cumberland Farms is closed. You know it's bad when even Dunks is closed. Stay safe, folks.”

Foxborough police reported they have responded to several disabled and stranded vehicles, “and a number of cars which have slid off roadways.”

“Central Street Towing & Recovery has helped us with a few winch-outs. Visibility is absolutely terrible,” police noted in a midday storm update on Facebook. “Both Town of Foxborough DPW and MassDOT are trying their best to keep up with the heavy snow.”

Echoing the words of other officials, police said, “If you don't have to be out today, please don't bother. Vehicles are struggling to climb even the slightest hills due to snow volume, which causes additional traffic hazards.”

Over in Medway, Town Administrator Michael Boynton reported on conditions outside Town Hall via Facebook Live. Town Hall is officially closed, but essential staff is on duty.

“This storm is for real folks,” Boynton said, showing a video of a snow-covered Village Street. “It’s not the biggest snow storm we’ve ever had, but our plow crews have been through here not less than five,10 minutes ago and the we already have snow covered roadways. The roads are going to stay snow covered all day long.”

He noted that a water main break on Virigina Road has been fixed, then went on to urge people to avoid driving.

“…this is the real deal. These roads are slick and you can see people not necessarily heeding the advice to stay of off of these roads,” he said, adding, “We ask people to be as cautious as possible, and if at all possible to please say off the roadways.”

As in other towns, fire and police stations were fully staffed today.

“We’ll keep you up to date,” Boynton said. “The winds are howling and it is a very tough day here in New England.”